302 



HORTICULTURE 



March 29, 1919 



SEED TRADE 



AMBRICAN SBBD TRADB ASSOG1ATIO N 



Officers — President, F. \V. llolgiano, 

 Hubindon, DC; First Vice-Pre»ident, 

 Wm. G. Scarlett, Baltimore, Mil- ; Second 

 Vice-President, David Burpee, Phlludel- 

 pbia, Pa. ; Secretary-Treasurer, C. E. 

 Kendel, Cleveland, O. 



Must Clover Be Inoculated? 



So much has been written empha- 

 sizing the importance of inoculating 

 alfalfa, sweet clover and soybeans, 

 that the question is often asked, 

 "Must the common clovers be inocu- 

 lated?" or "Will inoculation do ordi- 

 nary clover any good?" 



Inoculation is practiced for legume 

 crops only and supplies the particular 

 bacteria that live on the roots of the 

 plants, enabling them to feed on the 

 nitrogen of the air as well as that 

 in the soil. Without bacteria the 

 legumes cannot use nitrogen from the 

 air, but will exhaust the soil the same 

 as grasses or other crops. 



According to Wm. A. Albrecht, of 

 the University of Missouri College of 

 Agriculture, in order to have the prop- 

 er bacteria present -when a legume 

 is grown on the soil for the first time, 

 these bacteria must be introduced as 

 inoculation. Such is the common 

 practice for alfalfa, soybeans and 

 sweet clover. The seed may carry a 

 few bacteria to the field, but inocular 

 tion from such will occur only in spots. 

 Wind, water, cultivation and other 

 chance agencies may spread the in- 

 oculation from these spots, but such 

 a method of infecting the field is too 

 slow. When once introduced and es- 

 tablished in a soil the bacteria will 

 often live over from one crop to the 

 next legume crop on which they can 

 develop. As a result, a legume crop 

 reseeded on a soii after six or eight 

 years of cropping by non-legumes will 

 need no special inoculation. With a 

 sweet soil and other favorable con- 

 ditions it is difficult to say just how 

 long the legume bacteria will live in 

 the soil. Experience indicates, how- 

 ever, that for a legume repeated once 

 in a rotation, or even in two crop ro- 

 tations, inoculation is necessary. 



For the common clovers, inoculation 

 is usually not necessary since the 

 bacteria for these are widely distribut- 

 ed and are present in many different 

 soils. This Is due to the fact that 

 there are several different varieties 

 of true clovers, all of which nourish 

 the same kind of bacteria on their 

 roots. Of the true clovers which 

 will inoculate each other, there are 

 five varieties generally grown and 

 known by many confusing names. In 





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the order of their importance they 

 are, (1) Common or red clover, also 

 called June or broad-leaved clover, (2) 

 Mammoth clover, often known as 

 Mammoth red, sapling or peavine 

 clover, (3) Alsike or Swedish clover, 

 (4) White or Dutch clover, and (5) 

 Crimson clover, also named scarlet 

 or carnation clover and commonly 

 grown in the south. The fact that all 

 these have the same bacteria and will 

 inoculate each other, has done much 

 to spread their bacteria. Almost all 

 soils in the cornbelt have either grown 

 some of these clovers or by some other 

 chance have become well inoculated 

 for these crops. 



Distribution of the clover bacteria 

 is also due to the fact that many 

 clovers are native to the United 

 States. Some sixty kinds, both cul- 

 tivated and wild, have been growing 

 for many years. The yellow, or hop 

 clover growing in dry, sandy or 

 gravelly soils, and the rabbit foot or 

 stone clover are common weeds which 

 have spread the bacteria that will in- 

 oculate any of the other true clovers. 

 Then two, the bacteria have been dis- 

 tributed by the use of manure made 

 from clover hays. Clover hay car- 

 ries with it dust containing the bac- 

 teria and may inoculate the field. 



With some clovers growing for 

 years as native weeds, others being 

 widely cultivated and distributed and 

 all these inoculating each other there 

 is ample reason why the clover bac- 

 teria have been widely spread and 

 most soils have become inoculated for 

 the true clovers. However, this does 

 not include our clover, Japan clover 

 and sweet clover, which have a differ- 

 ent kind of bacteria. In seeding the 

 true clovers the soil is often already 

 inoculated and the special treatment 

 is not needed for such crops as red, 

 alsike and mammoth clovers, especial- 

 ly when seeded in sweet soils in dis- 

 tricts growing these legumes. There 

 are some soils on which inoculation 



is needed for these clovers, but they 

 are the exception rather than the rule. 



TESTING FOR CORN ROOT ROT 

 One reason for poor yields in many 

 Ohio cornfields is a disease known as 

 the corn root rot says Professor W. 

 G. Stover, of the Ohio State Univers- 

 ity. In this disease some or all of the 

 roots are rotted off by a mold or fun- 

 gus. The fungus also grows up into 

 the stalk and even into the shank and 

 ear. The results of these attacks are 

 seen in dwarfed plants which may die 

 early, in down or broken stalks, and 

 in barren stalks and nubbins. 



Knowledge of the disease is not yet 

 complete but studies at the Indiana 

 Agricultural Experiment Station seem 

 to show that seed corn may carry the 

 disease. Diseased grains may fail to 

 germinate or may give weak plants 

 which soon die. In either case the 

 result is an uneven stand of corn in 

 the field. It also appears that dis- 

 eased grains may be detected during 

 the germination test since they often 

 rot or mold in the germinator. 



This fact emphasizes the importance 

 of ear-testing all corn to be used for 

 seed and the selection of ears which 

 give strong vigorous plants. If any of 

 the grains rot or mold in the germina- 

 tor, fail to germinate, or give only 

 weak plants, the ears from which they 

 came should be rejected. 



In order to reduce the losses from 

 this disease, crop rotation is also 

 necessary, since the parasite may live 

 over winter on the old stalks in the 

 field. Another important measure is 

 the selection of seed corn on the stalk 

 in September. 



SEEDS AND BDLBS 

 iBobbfngton's 



Chamber. St., N. Y. City 



